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#ever since tnp
shummthechumm · 2 years
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i will never let this scene go why would they write this
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kithj · 28 days
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just a little update here to say sorry i'm kinda absent lately im dealing with my mental health (bad) and my job suddenly doubling my hours (also bad) the last two weeks on top of that but i'm still writing albeit very very slowly lol. i'm struggling with tnp and bc so progress has been spotty and i've been working on a short story just to force myself to write something even if it's bad 💀
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anx1oustig3r · 5 months
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the funniest thing i’ve ever seen on the wcrp forum was while i was reading the spoiler page for thunder and someone was full on “i am shaking i have lost sleep over squirrelflight being leader i refuse to call her by her leader name she will be never replace bramblestar” like
bro … it’s the poorly written cat books … chill tf out
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hazardsoflove · 1 year
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however i know they’ve played this song every show and i cannot WAIT because it sounds so fucking good live
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bonefall · 3 months
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again looking over the reworked history what the hell happened with Ripwater, I wanna know. What *was* that? How did Riverclan kill it?
Oooooh, quite a request! Ripwater, Queen of the Lake, one of the episodes of BB!Po3!
Ripwater is a Wels Catfish, the largest freshwater fish in Europe. The biggest specimen EVER caught was just landed last year, in 2023, 9.4 feet long. It wasn't weighed, but smaller fish than this one have broken 300 pounds.
And it's not a good thing that we're catching so many big ones.
Wels catfish are extremely invasive across most of Europe, introduced for anglers who want to land record-setting catches. They're massive, intelligent carnivores, sometimes called the "freshwater orca" because they will lunge out of the water to catch land prey. They DESTROY the population of anything big enough to fit in its terrible mouth, including fish, amphibians, and even turtles.
They get that big from a mix of constant food and hot temperature. It's a sign that they're devastating their surroundings, and that nothing has been able to kill them for the decades it takes to get so large.
So of course, some dunderhead put them in British rivers, where they've been spreading upwards ever since. Thankfully they thrive better where it's warmer, so they're not too massive of a threat to BB's modeled regions in Northwestern England, but they're fucking coming.
Ripwater's name isn't an exaggeration. That's how they hunt. They gape their jaw and beat their fins like dragons, creating eddies and currents that suck their hapless prey in. When RiverClan names her, it's because they see her ripping the water in half. I was thinking about her recently, and came up with some new stuff. I'll take a brief break from my drafts to serve up some fragments for you.
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[A gray cat with blue eyes, Lakepaw, later BB!Lakeheart, swims in bluegreen water surrounded by lilypads. Below her is the massive shadow of Ripwater, a gigantic Wels Catfish. Its eyes flash in the depths.]
SMALL RECAP OF BB!PO3: (to set the stage)
It is now a breather arc, just dedicated to some worldbuilding!
I feel pretty strongly that Po3's strength is how AWESOME of a slice-of-life arc it could have been. To this end, I removed the Kin of your Kin prophecy from it, until it's revealed only at the very end just before Cruel Season.
That's so I can focus on The Three and their adventures around the lake, without this big prophecy looming over them and making the lower-stakes conflicts look small.
Instead, the various episodes of Po3 are related to problems that their new home presents, with just a teeny bit of Sol's magical influence to spice things up.
While Lionpaw learns about the "meaning of strength" and ultimately learns a terrible lesson he will extend to his kits, and Jaypaw finds his limits and learns to prevent others from defining them for him, Hollypaw is grappling with Fire Alone and how to reconcile her grandfather's legacy with her strict dedication to the Warrior Code.
And SO we find ourselves in one of the earliest episodes of BB!Po3; Ripwater the River Demon. This is like... episode 3 or 4, it's a REALLY early one.
I'm just shuffling it around with ANOTHER RiverClan-centric episode; the Shinewater Plague. The oilspill from TNP is now going to be bumped up to Po3 so it's more about establishing Mothwing and her apprentice Willowpaw, to contrast Leafpool and her apprentice Hollypaw, before Holly swaps to being a warrior. Jaypaw completes warrior training before becoming a Cleric apprentice.
So I don't want them to be TOO close together. Maybe put Ripwater in Book 2 and have RiverClan comment that they don't really want to ask for help because of the last big event, Mistystar hates feeling indebted to ThunderClan.
After all, it could basically replace the "flood" episode from Canon Po3, which is often forgotten about anyway. I'm already having ShadowClan construct dams instead of RiverClan anyway...
ANYWAY RIPWATER
I want to start this episode off with Sol/Harry, who is unnamed, messing around near water. He has a bit of a fish motif going on that I want to establish, and I need to get him to start messing with the Clans good and early.
(Specifically his motif is going back and forth between the koi, also an invasive and notably domesticated species, and the atlantic salmon which is famous for its changing life cycle.)
The Wels Catfish is an invasive species to England, slowly making its way up the island from the South. The fish who will become Ripwater, at this point, is already HUGE but not cat-swallowing huge. She's an 80-pounder.
Sol hits her with some godly magic, which allows her to grow at a rapid rate.
The sort of thing where it wouldn't be COMPLETELY implausible. He just... helped it along.
When we get to her first true on-screen appearance interacting with RiverClan, she is nearly 300 pounds of monstrosity with a length of about 8 feet
I'm unsure how, exactly, ThunderClan comes to know of this. But I DO know that I want Hollypaw to be snooping, and heavily encouraged by her mentor Brackenfur to do so. So, somehow, SOMETHING starts going wrong across the lake and ThunderClan catches wind of it.
Thinking about it, this should probably be her first big action after swapping out of Cleric apprenticeship.
One of the few things she's missing about Clerichood is the way she could be close to Willowpaw without needing to sneak around so much. It's easier to just pass it off as "friendship" and "Clerics need to be close." Leafpool and Mothwing are a similar way.
Possibly work in that Hollypaw's also already seeing Heatherpaw in the tunnels, contrast the two things...
At this point, Hollypaw has a crush on Willowpaw, which is requited, but... it's kinda fading.
She still loves her like a friend, but she's liking Heatherpaw a lot more. It doesn't mean she doesn't CARE for Willowpaw, of course, but
Willowpaw is still IN love, and it's slowly becoming unrequited, when it didn't used to be.
And from RiverClan's POV...
The first disappearance is so sudden they have no idea what's happened. I'm planning for it to be Robinpaw.
(I go back and forth on if it's Robinpaw or Dapplepaw, but I'm leaning towards Robinpaw again, because I like Dapplenose too much to have her get killed off here.)
She went out clamming in the lake with her sisters, Lakepaw and Otterpaw, there was a swirl in the water, and that was it. She was gone.
Just like that.
She never came back up. RiverClan searched for her, following the currents, checking the shoreline, everything. It was like she vanished.
Mistystar is suspicious and doing everything in her power to figure out what happened, but... let's face it. It's the word of two apprentices, who were swimming alone, who swear Robinpaw just went under.
Misty JUST got done with the Shinewater Plague and isn't trying to make RiverClan look like it can't keep track of its own young. The most likely situation is that Robinpaw was sucked down by an undertow that the three of them were too inexperienced to recognize.
So... she's pretty adamant about not sharing this information until Robinpaw's body is found. Jaws Style. "We cannot let the other Clans be alarmed by this, else they might meddle in our affairs..."
(and she's still maybe a little paranoid that some snoop in another Clan is going to find out that Leopardstar wasn't killed by a rogue, y'know.)
I don't want it to be TOO much of a bloodbath, so I'm capping Ripwater's body count at three and just aiming for two deaths total.
I'm also going for a coincidence RiverClan is going to interpret as a pattern; this happens a lot, specifically, when they're hunting Freshwater Pearl Mussels.
Ripwater doesn't like the river as much as she likes the lake, but it has nothing to do with their clamming. They're just going to interpret it as such.
Anyway.
The next one she goes after was lucky. By some stroke, she opens her jaw, and the victim is able to grab onto something before they're sucked in. (Maybe toss in something here were it was Holly who was able to help save them.)
Since the WHOLE Po3 Apprentice Generation is going to be getting more focus, there needs to be more input from the RiverClan apprentices. Lakepaw and Otterpaw obviously need time here, but I also NEED to involve Ripplepaw, to establish how he's going to be seen as one of the strongest in RiverClan by OotS.
EDIT FROM THE FUTURE AS I FIGURED STUFF OUT:
It was Ripplepaw, Otterpaw, and their two mentors on a raft who were attacked next. They were fishing for mussels in a shallower part of the lake.
Otterpaw was tethered to the raft with a flax lead, so it wouldn't float off. Or just tugging it in her mouth. Either way she had a line.
When Ripwater attacks her, she is swallowed on the line like a worm on a hook
And it starts pulling the WHOLE RAFT down, just a crummy bundle of sticks
One of the mentors started shouting to cut the line, else it would drag all of them under, but Ripplepaw dives right down to beat its ass without telling them he's not gonna cut it
Hollypaw just rushed right in, didn't think about it, forgetting she was supposed to be trying to sneak around
Taking control as the natural leader she is, she ordered them to shut up and start pulling the opposite way
Underwater, Ripplepaw braced himself against the fish's lips, grabs Otter's tether, and YANKS
Abovewater, the adult warriors are pulling together, Holly grabs the raft and pulls too
Once their paws touch the bottom of the shallows it's over, one last HEAVE-HO and POP!
Otterpaw is FREE
And when it's finally known that the apprentices weren't mistaken, there's a monster in the water, THAT'S when the debate really starts up. Mistystar does NOT want ThunderClan meddling, and she'll already be pissed off that Hollypaw (and any OTHERS who tagged along with her, I wouldn't put it past Honeypaw to wriggle her little yellow butt into a later draft, or Lionpaw for his massive strength) witnessed something that's not her business.
There's a moment from canon I desperately want to keep; where Squirrelflight comes to fetch her daughter.
(more reason to just say this is replacing The Flood Episode from canon lmao)
It's such an interesting moment, and so forgotten. In a nutshell, Squilf is both furious and concerned that her kit went missing and meddled in another Clan's affairs, but... understands the impulse.
Because it's something she would have done.
So when she scolds Hollypaw, there's this aching feeling that she's scolding a younger version of herself. Calling her arrogant and disloyal, that an apprentice's opinions mean less, and that she needs to listen to "older and wiser" warriors within her own Clan.
In BB, I want to do something big with this. Firestar is the figurehead of Fire Alone, who encouraged Hollypaw's behavior through his deputy, Brackenfur, who he set as her mentor for a reason.
But Squirrelflight is being abused. By Brambleclaw.
This is one of the lowest points in Squirrelflight's life, and she is walking a line between self-worth, the warrior code, and her personal beliefs, just like her daughter is.
SO, since I'm already using Brambleclaw's enabling of Ashfur's physical abuse as one of the contributing factors to Hollyleaf's descent, I ALSO want to show how he acts on other characters.
Brambleclaw, Clan Culture, the pressures of their strength-obsessed social system. So it's gotta be Squirrelflight that reminds her, or even plants the seed in her head;
"What you did isn't consistent with the Warrior Code."
Maybe even have Mistystar herself state this earlier, to be echoed by Squirrelflight, offering an alternate perspective to Hollypaw. Make her realize that ThunderClan's political leanings are not universal or even popular.
But when Hollypaw comes back to ThunderClan, whoever set her to be a snoop wants her to spill the beans. This is also a big WIP part, as Hollypaw struggles with if she's going to obey or not, and I still need to set all the political "players" in this moment.
I know for sure, though, that Firestar's IMMEDIATE desire is to meddle like it's an episode of Scooby-Doo. Though he's savvy enough to be smart about how he phrases it and what actions he takes, his ultimate goal is to put his little cheeto-dust paws all over this. And Hollypaw is starting to question how appropriate that actually is.
This is where it starts to really be a rip in Holly's mind. Clans aren't JUST big, blanket groups with united opinions, they're collections of individuals. Mistystar doesn't want meddling, but Willowpaw is in danger. Otterpaw and Lakepaw went all that time without being believed, after they watched their sister die, because they're lowly apprentices like her. Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw are angry and disappointed, while Firestar and Brackenfur are secretly lathering her in praise.
Now imagine me standing in front of a big board where I'm writing ??? because there's a missing chunk here.
I need to connect THIS part to what comes next, which is where ThunderClan DOES come in and help out. Here's the thought process going on in RiverClan;
Willowpaw comes in to do something important. She adores Hollypaw, knows her value as a Cleric, and knows that StarClan can sway Mistystar.
I want her to have a couple of pieces of a vision... BUT. She decides to interpret it in a way that's convenient, and add a few details.
It's not a tooootal lie lmao. It's just 75% true.
This is the true power of Clerics, when they realize it. No one can actually challenge them without just ignoring them or stripping them of power. They are accountable to StarClan alone.
A mentor simply doesn't say this out loud to their apprentice. It's a quiet secret. And Willowpaw just realized it.
and thinking about it... this should be the thing that finally breaks the budding romance Holly and Willow had. Holly is sickened by this, when Willow confesses how she convinced RiverClan to work with ThunderClan.
But, without even being a full Warrior, the apprentice leverages her power as Cleric of RiverClan, and 200 skill points of Improv Acting, to tell them these things;
"StarClan is so angry with us that they've sent a hog to the water! It's why they've sent a ThunderClan apprentice, we must work with them to eliminate the beast that lurks in our waters. With spears and plans, we must hunt it honorably!"
(Mistystar is defensive, but it's not known why) "We haven't disobeyed StarClan in any way. We'd already accepted their help once before, when sickness drove us to weakness, and it's only let them think they can disrespect our borders as they please. This can't be the holy will of our ancestors."
"It's-- We've been disrespecting this bountiful new land that they've so generously given us. That's what the pile of shells in my dream was. Think about it! The last attack was on the shore where we collect mussels. The second attack was on a cat latched to a raft, and it was only the tether that saved them. And the first..."
IVE GOT AN IDEA, Robin, Lake, and Otter WEREN'T clamming when they were attacked. She gestures over to Lake, knowing that if she doesn't back her up, the theory crumbles.
(Otter is in the Cleric's den, unconscious.)
Lake hesitates, not wanting to lie. Willow jumps back in,
"It's why Otterpaw was attacked," does those little jazz-hands to be like 'come in bitch work with me,' "And it's why Lakepaw has to be involved in killing it, to end what she started, and appease StarClan."
Lakepaw more like I LIKE-what-you-just-saidpaw, "It's true, we were so ashamed to admit it, Mistystar, this is all MY fault, I wanted my siblings to dig up mussels, PLEASE let me atone by stabbing the fish to death"
AND AFTER THAT IT'S NOODLIN' TIME
Mistystar, begrudgingly, accepts Firestar's help, or perhaps reaches out to him. Ripwater is a "Hog in the Lake," a beast too big for them to kill honorably on their own.
ThunderClan is the ONLY Clan that uses spears, and only for boar hunts. To protect themselves and to give their quarry a quicker death.
No other Clan touches weapons for dishonor reasons, as they're heavily associated with the demon Shredtail.
I should have Willowpaw explain her half-truth to Hollypaw here, and it's where Hollypaw just... so very suddenly can't look at Willowpaw the same way.
Jaypaw would definitely face an ableist moment from someone, but it's going to have to be one of those times where he accepts that there IS a very real limit to his ability here. Spears are range-weapons and his whiskers don't reach that far. He can't tell where he's stabbing, and the water is going to make it too hard to smell where Ripwater's dangerous mouth is. He can't be chosen for this hunt.
Meanwhile Lionpaw learns from Willowpelt how to make a spear and it is one of the most satisfying things he's ever done in his life, he's like "this is so awesome oh my god i love weapons"
just gently setting up that he's going to eventually become ThunderClan's head of hunting, and also that he's a lil violent
I feel like him and Lakepaw should hit it off a little because they both think the idea of stabbing a fish in the face is super cool, only for someone to growl at them that they shouldn't be enjoying themselves so much
Maybe Blackclaw, fuck that guy
(absolute tangent but BB!Lionblaze is kind of evolving into a little dork and I love that for him. Local himbo only capable of making friends or enemies, all Clanwide opinions on him are polarized, more at 11)
THE PLAN
So how DO they kill that thing? First of all, it's all about strategy.
Immediately they started making a couple of specialized spears. Most spears they make are exclusively for boar-hunting, so they have a distinctive "lug" that prevents a boar from impaling itself down the shaft to get you.
Someone in RiverClan explains that you don't want a fish having the chance to get off a claw. If Ripwater escapes, they might not find her again until she kills someone else
The solution is that these need to be custom-made, with special claw-shaped prongs, so they're chevron ^ shapes instead of tear-drop points. They stab in, and don't pull out.
So they need to make spears from scratch, which is an intensive process, and they don't have time to waste. RiverClan doesn't want to hunt by water that has a chance of having a freshwater orca spawn and drag you in; they'll starve
And there's only so many artisans in TC that can MAKE spears. Glue, twine, shafts, blades... these are all things that take hours of labor to create.
And MORE IMPORTANTLY, they realized from the Raft Rescue that a tether, attached to a floating object, can be very useful. Each weapon has rope tied through it and is tethered to a raft-- which is even MORE intensive, RiverClan had to repurpose several nets to create so many lines, and they only own three rafts, so the rest have driftwood.
So they only have time to create 3 special water-spears, and bring in 2 modified boar-spears.
Lionpaw is like visibly disappointed he can't have one lmao
The only apprentice given a spear is... Lakepaw. And it's a boar-spear
Because she's gonna be bait. They believe the litter is cursed for their "sin" and she'll be the next target.
But still, they chum up the water near the last sighting with blood and crowfood, like hog slop, and wait.
(Heavy WIP stuff here as we get to a play-by-play I haven't fully figured out yet)
Their plan is to get it on the shore as quickly as possible.
Four cats could pull Otterpaw from its mouth, so 5 spearcats and a dozen strong warriors could pull it onto the shore. Surely.
shorely.
It comes as expected, lunging at Lakepaw. She leaps back and tries to use her spear on it, but she is NOT properly trained with it, she stabs its face, but can't break the skull
RiverClan manages to toss a net at the beast, but it's NOT heavy enough
And they managed to get LAKEPAW with it, pressing her to the beast, her spear is dropped into the water
Someone shouts that it swims like an eel, able to just reverse course unlike a REAL fish which must turn
In the panic, warriors start mobbing it.
she thrashes, and splashes and the net is barely holding her back at all
She smashes a warrior with her tail, buffs another with her powerful head
She's stabbed in her side by a ThunderClan warrior (probably Sandstorm), and she turns on the raft they're standing on, breeching and SMASHING it to bits. Lionpaw and the rest of the cats on this raft get dunked
In the water, ThunderClan cats are useless, and RiverClan cats can't properly handle spears.
Someone from RiverClan, probably Blackclaw, tries to free Lakepaw but is scooped up in Ripwater's mouth.
He's screeching and yowling and trying to hold onto its upper jaw, regularly cut off as she dives under
When Willowpelt gets her spear in, she holds onto that damn stick with her LIFE, getting swung around and dunked in the water and then going back up into the air
Thornclaw, holding the other boar-spear, aims for its tail
But it's not enough; Even with several warriors of RiverClan, five spears, a net, and the weight of the two remaining rafts, Ripwater's managing to pull them towards the depths
She's too big to bite, too large to claw, and too strong to hold down
LIONPAW TIME
He grabs the spear that Lakepaw dropped
Ripplepaw seems to zoom right passed him, running away from the fish. He thinks he must be some kind of coward, the fight's NOT OVER YET!! WE NEED TO HELP LAKEPAW
(In a later draft I might have Lionpaw be on the smashed raft, and Ripplepaw brings the spear to him before turning and bolting back to shore. Either way he doesn't explain himself)
He paddles near one of the rafts, and is pulled up onto it
Firestar calls him a WONDERFUL BOY for bringing the spear
Lionpaw mumbles something enthusiastic around the stick in his mouth, wriggles his butt, and jumps back into the water
Grabbing the net sticking to Ripwater and using it like tree bark, he pulls himself on
Bites the spear by the lug like a handle
And stabs it in like a knife
But it's already starting to pull out, too shallow
Filled with anger and resolve, he bites the shaft, and PUSHES
Harder and harder and harder until there's a crackle, the twine breaks loose, and the lug snaps
The rest of the spear slips in as if Ripwater's made of butter
Figuring that's probably deep enough, he lets go of the net, breaching the surface, sputtering and hacking
He's about to dive again to go get Lakepaw, but to his surprise, she breaks the water next to him
and then he feels the fish bump his paws
His name is called from the shore, and there's Hollypaw and Ripplepaw waving. Ripplepaw TOOK HIS SPEAR'S ROPE. Like a GUY WHO THINKS.
Now there was a team of cats on the shore, all the spent warriors who got thrown off, pulling Ripwater to the shore.
And from the feeling of slimy fish under his paws, it seemed like her fight had been all but spent.
And more cats were swimming to shore now, with the ropes attached to the other spears.
Once on the shore, they're able to discover that, tragically, Blackclaw has died. Mistystar in particular looks deeply torn by this, as their relationship was notoriously toxic. But still, he had been the father of her children, and drowned trying to save a Clanmate. She jumps up onto the massive fish, giving a speech about sacrifice, how Blackclaw and Robinpaw would be honored, and that RiverClan has learned its valuable lesson.
Ripwater was symbolic; it's the greed they had unleashed upon the lake by over-exploiting one resource. From now on, they would be respectful of StarClan's bounty. She thanks ThunderClan for helping to fulfill a prophecy, and offers that their debt be repaid by splitting the meat of the hunt.
Hollypaw, internally: "Oh she's doing that on purpose. She knows ThunderClan hates fish and it would be rude to refuse."
Firestar: "well. how could we refuse."
Sandstorm, quietly, in the distance: "easily actually ew"
CLOSING STUFF
I kinda want some kind of "epilogue festival" where the two Clans legitimately celebrate with a somewhat somber meal sharing. Some of these episodes in Po3 will result in lasting traditions and holidays that are celebrated annually.
At that little "fish festival," it works for Holly to officially break it off with poor Willow, to leave this episode off on a bit of a sad note.
This was one of the first times Lionpaw's power becomes obvious, and it's the sort of thing that wasn't really noticed. I figure it would be good for Lakepaw to ask how that lug snapped, she could barely even get the spearhead in. Lionpaw just brags and says it must be because he's SUPER STRONG.
For some reason he's just making a ton of friends whenever I write these out, I think I'm going to lean into it. Lionpaw's got friends when he's a kid lmao, starts losing them over time as he gets more violent.
It's probably because I really need a comic relief in The Three's dynamic. Hollypaw is very dramatic, Jaypaw is dealing with legitimately stressful social issues, and Lionpaw is violent. Someone has to lighten the mood up a little and it's probably because he's The California Girl himself lmao
At this fish festival he also discovers fish isn't actually that bad. Everyone's being weird about this. It's not really that slimy. It's got a strong taste but that's kinda nice, actually?
Could use some berries but like... "damn why don't we do this more often. this would go great with blackberries."
Ripplepaw: "You think so? I can taste sweetness, can I try to make it at home and tell you how it works out at the next Gathering?"
Lionpaw: "It's not hard, you just mash the berries and stew them in a little water before pouring it over your meat. I learned it from Willowpelt, she's got a mad sweet tooth."
Lakepaw: "No offense Lionpaw, but I always thought you were a total lunkhead. I never thought you'd like, cook?"
Lionpaw: "I mean not really, I'm an awful cook, I can just make simple stuff. Willowpelt's just nice enough to be patient with me, my mentor Ashfur says if I can learn something anyone can, haha."
Just a nice little moment for him.
Blackclaw is being mourned in the mortal plane, but secretly, getting a SCATHING trial up in StarClan. His death was heroic, but his ENTIRE LIFE was treacherous.
From teaching Hawkfrost to follow in his father's pawsteps, to joining him in WindClan's Civil War, and his constant arguing and undermining of Mistyfoot back when she was just a deputy trying to do the right thing.
He goes on trial for a bunch of things he did in TigerClan, too, facing his victims who took his misdeeds to their graves. He's not the only cat in RiverClan who is getting a review like this.
Leopardstar is already in the Dark Forest, and soon, Blackclaw's sent there too.
I decided to kill off Blackclaw here so he could have a VERY cool Land Mar;
(context: all Dark Forest demons now get a cool little evil playset area just for them, where they spawn into after they're thrown out of StarClan. These are called Land Mars)
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It's still unnamed, but it's basically an even BIGGER Ripwater. It goes above and below the river and lakes of the Dark Forest, popping up in any body of water big enough to hold her.
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northern-passage · 5 months
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wait so is both lea and clem doms? becuse if that si the case my MCs poor brain is gonna melt.
LOL
i don't usually answer asks like these (dom/sub or top/bottom asks are like the main reason i limit nsfw asks on this blog) but i want to say that it honestly just depends.
i've written a lot of intimate scenes now since i've started seriously writing like 4 yrs ago and i've never really written any character that's strictly one or the other. in my personal experience i find that it's usually just not the case for a lot of people & that it depends on the relationship, the situation, and communication. of course there are people that only ever want to do one or the other, not trying to argue that or invalidate anyone, my character Valentina from blood choke is a high femme (or as some would say, a pillow princess), but if you've read her intimate scenes you know that it's not that simple because of her experiences & the fact that she's not comfortable with the mc yet.
specifically it's the portrayal in fiction; i dislike the tendency in romance to make it so rigid without even having the characters ever discuss their preferences or sex in general in any meaningful way. i especially dislike the way a lot of authors and readers treat top/bottom/vers as interchangeable with dom/sub/switch and also as personality traits (it is literally just sexual preference) again it's mainly why i don't answer these kinds of questions or label my characters in that way because people take it and assume certain things about them that have nothing to do with sex. as in, people see Lea being a handler and kind of bossy and either assume that means they have to be a dom cus they just Have to be in control at all times, or to be "subversive," they must be a sub because actually they secretly long to not be in control at all! which is. incorrect in both instances. again there are people that may feel this way and this experience does represent them, but i don't like that it's the general assumption - this person is like this, so this must be the kind of sex they like, etc.
anyways all that to say that it depends on your mc and the situation. with tnp, i like trying to give the player a chance to choose how to approach sexual encounters, and i also want to do it in a way that will respect the other characters and their preferences, too. currently the only intimate scene in game has Merry taking the lead, but it fades to black before anything can really happen. i intend for later scenes to be longer & more interactive.
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thenightpool · 4 months
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rinharu wrapped 2023
We almost can't believe it's already time to bring out the kadomatsu again! 2023 just raced by, didn't it…?! Let's take a moment to look back on everything Rin & Haru (and their fans!) have achieved this year.
🌸 Archive of Our Own
The Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka tag on AO3 now holds 3,674 works!
That means 173 new fics were posted this year. (There might've been more than that, but it's hard to keep track of creators privatising their older fics!)
And the Night Pool's AO3 collection is up to 90 works!
.
🌸 The Night Pool
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Here at TNP, we revived @sakurathon, a cherry blossom-centric event! This year, the event received 40 works by 19 lovely participants.
Since it was such a big success, we're bringing the event back on April 27th & 28th 2024.
°•. ✿ .•°
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We also held the aquatic-themed Unleashed Blue, during which 20 participants created 51 (!!) otherworldly works for us.
With permission of the creators, we lovingly collected them in a 400+ page commemorative zine. You can download it on linktree
°•. ✿ .•°
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Writers filled an impressive 35 prompts during our prompt meme Make a Splash! that we held in honor of Haru's birthday.
Read the fills on AO3
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Rin & Haru's Big Warm-Up, our monthly prompt event, received 16 new works on AO3 across the year & more on socials.
Check out our collection on AO3
°•. ✿ .•°
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We also kicked off rinharu fandom's very first bang: MEDLEY!, a mini + reverse hybrid bang that will start posting in March!
(Psst. Sign ups are still open for a few roles!)
°•. ✿ .•°
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We held 3 training camps – super fun writing retreat weekends – over on our Discord. We have 4 more retreats planned for 2024!
If you'd like to join us for the next one(s), here's the info
°•. ✿ .•°
We posted 33 new fanart translations!
Here's the link to our masterlist
°•. ✿ .•°
And finally, The Night Pool beat out Harurinralia to win our Ultimate Rinharu Moments Tournament that we held back in April on both Twitter and Tumblr!
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🌸 Other Fandom Events
It's been a busy year!
In July, @starstarfairy hosted Wave Of Memory (@rinharumemories) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Free! The event ran in two wave on tumblr and Twitter and combined polls, fan memories, and all types of fanworks.
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@sweetheavenfics helped us run the RH-friendly @soumako-week in September!
@ryu-outsider hosted the month-long daily prompt event Free!cember here on Tumblr. It welcomed the entire fandom. The event was promoted by eleanorenchanted and run via hashtag.
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And @rinharuweek ran for a full 10 days this year in celebration of the show's anniversary! They are just wrapping up.
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🌸 Official News
Free! turned 10 in 2023. Omedetou gozaimasu!
Free! The Final Stroke Part 2 broke all of the series' previous records in the box office, bringing in over 1 billion yen
It also finally made it to Crunchyroll.com for the US & select others
Miyano Mamoru & Shimazaki Nobunaga fed us (+ fanartists' inspiration) well by shouting "HARU!!" and "RIIIN!!" at each other before hugging passionately during the 10th anniversary event at the Saitama Super Arena
We got tons of amazing new art; including a cover illustration for Free! The Band Live's Ever Blue performance in Yokohama, Animedia's July W-cover, Sweets Paradise's promotional art, and Kyoani's 10th anniversary event's illustration
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Rin's ripped jeans (+ THE ANKLETS) in the Matsukiyo & Cocokara's Top Of Summer collaboration launched a thousand fanworks
Matsuoka-senshu, Nanase-senshu, Kirishima-senshu & Yamazaki-senshu represented Mizuno at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka
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Spoon2Di recently restocked volume 78 & 85 on their webshop, and Akiba Pass Shop opened pre-orders for some gorgeous tapestries featuring said art
Karatz, Bikkuriman Choco, Iwami & DECOL all bumped Rin up to 2nd place in character listings (where he belongs!!)
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Last but not least, KyoaniShop bankrupted us all by releasing amazing new merchandise (and also did not try to hide that Rin is the Free! series' 2nd protagonist, either…)
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Thank you so much for being here with us in 2023. We hope it has been a wonderful & creative year for you. Here's wishing you an even more rinharu-filled 2024!
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the-owl-tree · 5 months
Note
I was surprised by the Erin's decision not to introduce a son for Firestar, as it seemed like something they would surely do. Nevertheless, I am glad they chose not to go in that direction because I believe Firestar's hypothetical son would have had a storyline exactly like Nightheart's.
I feel like it's not too surprising if you remember that Brambleclaw does sort of occupy that role in some ways, as well as the Romeo and Juliet plot they tried to do. Since TNP-OotS was planned out by one person, I think, I can definitely see why they settled on Firestar having two daughters (and no son ever thank god. alderheart and nightheart have been enough for me when it comes to the whole legacy-pressure plotlines the new team really likes).
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bramblewhisker · 4 months
Text
Woke up this morning with a single-minded urge to write up a BrambleHawk scene, based around the idea of "how could Bramble and Hawk dating save Hawkfrost" and 1300 words later I have something. Not sure my Hawkfrost is the best but he is at least supposed to be a bit softer than in canon by this point. Also took some creative liberties with the TNP timeline.
Story below the cut. Please consider if you are okay with the themes therein before reading. Feedback is very welcome as I don't write longer format stuff very often.
Content warnings for: BrambleHawk, (mentions of) BrambleFire, half-brother cats kissing, and heavily suggestive text of them doing more than that, but nothing explicit.
Brambleclaw felt the first signs of a contented purr rumble through Hawkfrost's body as he slowly groomed the fur between the smaller tom's ears. He was curled tightly around his brother in a makeshift nest of moss and bracken they had thrown together on the Gathering island, where the lack of a full moon overhead gave them their best bet at privacy for meetings like this. Getting caught in an illicit cross-clan tryst would be bad enough for any cat, but the accusations flung Hawkfrost's way ever since the battle for WindClan's succession made Brambleclaw especially wary of his clanmates doubling down on their notion that any other kin of Tigerstar could not be trusted, were they to find out about these secret meetings.
It's not fair, Brambleclaw thought, that we should have to work harder than any other cat to prove where our loyalties lie. He couldn't accept that any cat should be defined by their lineage, or that the desire to share intimate moments with a cat you connected with made you any less loyal to the clan you swore to protect. Besides, if he could find the right path forward, their bond would only make ThunderClan more secure in the end.
"Are you okay?" Brambleclaw asked once he'd smoothed out a particularly disagreeable bit of fur. Hawkfrost was usually more talkative at this point in their meetings.
Hawkfrost craned his neck so that Brambleclaw could make out a wry smile in his profile. "After that? I think you know I'm more than 'okay'."
Brambleclaw felt his whiskers begin to twitch awkwardly at the directness in Hawkfrost's tone and the nuzzle under his chin that followed. "I… uh, I didn't mean that, I meant… more broadly, you know…"
"I know what you meant." Hawkfrost's mew turned serious, and the rumbling of his earlier purr faded. "I'm fine."
Brambleclaw sighed. He didn't want to sully the moment with uncomfortable talk, especially since it was harder for them to find time like this now that ThunderClan and RiverClan didn't have a common border in their new home, but he needed to do right by Hawkfrost; he loved him. "I'm just worried about you. After what Mudclaw said-"
"I told you that was a lie," Hawkfrost interrupted sharply.
"I know, I know." Brambleclaw wanted to believe it. "But I know the kinds of things Tigerstar has been telling you. I don't think they're good for you… for us."
"Tigerstar just wants us to be strong leaders for our clans," Hawkfrost mewed. "Do we have to talk about this now?" He turned and licked at Brambleclaw's muzzle. "I'd rather focus on enjoying 'us'."
The lick sent a shiver down Brambleclaw's spine, as it so often did. For the moment he acquiesced and met his muzzle with his own, playing his tongue against Hawkfrost's as purrs built back up in both of them. They kept at this for heartbeats upon heartbeats – Brambleclaw didn't count and didn't care to – until Hawkfrost finally let his head droop away and they simply lay in a tightly-coiled ball, sharing what felt like a singular loud purr.
Hawkfrost seemed content, and Brambleclaw was, too, in a way, but his concern over losing this was too real. He couldn't just let it go for the bliss of the moment, however much he wanted to. Maybe it was finally time to bring up the idea he'd been turning over and over in his head the past moon. "What if… you came to live with me in ThunderClan?"
"What?" Hawkfrost didn't even try to mask the disgust in his mew. "How are we going to be strong leaders together if-"
"I'm not going to be leader of ThunderClan for a long time, if ever," Brambleclaw mewed firmly, for once being the one to do the interrupting.
"You never know what might happen…" The words were quiet, as if Hawkfrost hadn't been fully committed to Brambleclaw hearing them, but he had.
He knew he had to be firm. "Hawkfrost, you know how much I value this, but if I have to choose between you – between us – and ThunderClan, it has to be ThunderClan."
Hawkfrost sighed. "You're too earnest, you know that?"
"Will you at least think about it?" Brambleclaw urged. He let the tone in his mew soften. "We could share a nest like this all the time. Don't you want that?"
"I…" The mew had come sharply but for once Hawkfrost seemed like he was at a loss for words. "I don't know how much your clanmates would like that," he said after a while. Brambleclaw thought he sounded more sullen than truly bitter.
"They'll come around," Brambleclaw mewed reassuringly, running his tongue down the fur along his brother's neck in long, slow sweeps. "Especially once they see you like I do." He wanted to believe that was true, but he could understand the concern. Squirrelflight had been the loudest anti-Hawkfrost voice in the clan, but now that she seemed to be content Ashfur he hoped that she could take a more open mind toward him and their relationship, and the rest of the clan should follow suit with time.
"You think Firestar would even let me in, after that battle?" Hawkfrost challenged. "It's no secret that him and Onewhisker – Onestar – have been more than just friends."
His brother seemed determined to find a problem with this plan, but this was where Brambleclaw was pretty sure he'd catch him. "You daft furball," he mewed playfully. "Firestar knows about this. About… us, I mean."
Hawkfrost's head turned so fast it reminded Brambleclaw of an owl. "H- he does?" There was no hiding it: that was genuine surprise in his mew. "And he still made you deputy?"
"He did. And, uh…" Brambleclaw felt his cheeks start to grow a little hot as he thought about how to phrase this next point, "you know Firestar and I have... been a bit closer than just leader and deputy anyway, right?"
Hawkfrost snorted. "Yeah, you've mentioned, remember? Because you 'don't want to hide anything' from me. Like I said: too earnest." His mew certainly had a mocking tone to it, but Brambleclaw thought he could pick up affection mixed in there. "And Tigerstar complains about it, even if you hadn't said anything," he added with a laugh.
"Well, then, it won't be a problem," Brambleclaw said, choosing not to think about the implications of Tigerstar knowing about his and Firestar's relationship, for now.
"I wouldn't be interfering?" Hawkfrost asked warily, his tail twitching against Brambleclaw's leg.
"I think you and Firestar would get along," Brambleclaw pressed. "I think you would get along very well, if you give him a chance." He started to smooth out the fur that had spiked back up on Hawkfrost's back, remembering fondly how Firestar would in fact do the same for him, when he was still quick to agitation. When Hawkfrost didn't respond, Brambleclaw mustered up his confidence and whispered into his ear, "He taught me a few things I know you like." He wasn't certain, but he thought he caught a purr forming in his brother's body before Hawkfrost pushed it down.
"I don't know," Hawkfrost said finally, seeming uncharacteristically shaken. "This… isn't how I expected tonight to go."
"You don't have to give me an answer right now," Brambleclaw mewed between licks. "I want to share everything with you. My nest, the cats I love, everything. So please, will you at least think about it?" He focused on grooming down Hawkfrost's fur after that, giving his brother the time and space to consider an answer. Eventually, he felt the purr return, and this time it wasn't squashed.
They were running out of nighttime, but just as Brambleclaw began to worry that Hawkfrost wouldn't speak again before it was time to leave his brother mewed, "I'll think about it."
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wc-confessions · 14 days
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i have a question for you guys - i don’t mean to be a bother or anything, but i was wondering why i haven’t seen my ask about TNP posted yet? i submitted it along with a confession about Crowfeather and i saw that one posted like the very next day, but i haven’t seen my TNP ask yet (it was a fairly long one). i was just wondering if maybe tumblr ate it or if i broke any of the rules somehow?
if i did break any of the rules, could i DM privately to find out where i went wrong so i understand and don’t make the same mistake if i ever submit again?
thanks for your time!
we have a lot of asks hanging around, you're going to have to be more specific about which ask it was unfortunately. you can always send in non-anonymous asks with queries and we'll reply to them privately since you can't dm group blogs on tumblr.
~ mod lichenbark
(edit: i did a quick scroll of the queue and if it's the one about not liking how TNP ends then it is in the queue, just be patient!)
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dollybeagle · 1 month
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mothwing for the character opinion bingo?
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can you tell i like mothwing
ramble under the cut
FHNDAKS MOTHWING MY BEST FRIEND MOTHWING. I am the only one who's right about her ever /j. She's so important to me
Mothwing has been one my fav cats ever since I started reading the books, but I don't remember being so attached to her until last year. I recall it starting after (and also during, but mostly after) going through some nasty experiences related to toxic religious people and stuff that led into me having a complete religious meltdown. Mothwing was a character I could heavily relate to and project to during that time, and i became really attached to her oof
Mothwing is a really complex character in canon, with a lot of missed potential that I will never shut up about. So, she is the daughter of tigerstar, yet we never get any canon content of her even aknowledging that, at all? Which sucks because, unlike her siblings, she seems almost completely uneffected by the fact that tigerstar is her father.
Tigerstar is not the only character that Mothwing's relationship with had a lot of potential, but there are also other characters that could have been great to see intereacting with her. For example, something that really frustrates me is how we never get to see mothwing intereacting with her half-siblings (cough cough. tawnypelt.) especially at moments when there was a lot of potential. During tbc, we could have gotten some great scenes of Mothwing bonding with tawnypelt over their common origins that have left them unfairly wronged at multiple situations. Also, when they both found peace in shadowclan when their own clan screwed them over. Im pointing at you erins please im desperate
Another thing that I don't see people talk about is how much wasted potential there was between Feathertail and Mothwing's friendship. SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN HER MENTOR BEFORE SHE DECIDED TO TRAIN AS A MEDICINE CAT.. PLEASE.
Anyway im done yelling at the erins so i will decide to be nice and not scream about how mothwing should have been a pov character during tnp because again. there was a lot of potential there but the erins are cowards. So let's get into canon mothwing. Canon Mothwing is sometimes hard to understand since we don't get any canon content with her during tnp, so we get to only see her from leafpaw/pool's point of view. When she's firstly introduced and throughout the whole series, Mothwing is often described by leafpool as beautiful, which I think has also influenced the fandom into portraying her as a "confident, pretty medicine cat etc etc". But I've always liked to interpret her as self conscious and awkward, literally anything but confident. I feel like sasha leaving riverclan, along with the reveal of the moth's wing sign and the reveal of her origins has left her pretty self conscious and awkward, if that makes sense.
I feel like I should share my opinion on mothpool, so here we go. I think i have mentioned before, that I'm not a big fan of fanon mothpool, mostly because the interpretation of both characters in this ship always felt a little odd to me (eg mothwing being a big buff fluffy personalityless gf and leafpool being the short, lithe, shy small gf. I just never really liked it). But I'm a big fan of canon mothpool, as well as messy mothpool. The one of them lives under rules they don't agree with, in a society that they see as "brainwashed and blind", while the other is a firm follower of these rules (leafpool fuck the code you should start killing), and while the two want to be together, they can do nothing but stare each other in longing. doomed yuri ftw
So, since we got these out of the way, let's talk about some design potential mothwing has. I'm a huge fan of colorpoint mothwing, but I can't help but notice that I'm growing fonder of tigerclone/brown rabby mothwing more. I feel like it would have been cool to see a tigerstar desceasand that also looks lik him trying to fix their reputation through their actions. Also, eye imagery mothwing design anyone?
also i believe she's an aroace lesbian.
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mothdapple · 1 year
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Fixing the Bramblepaw to Brambleclaw Character Arc
A common cause of complaint about The New Prophecy is how much Brambleclaw does not feel like Bramblepaw in the first arc. I do think the evolution of TPB Bramblepaw morphing into TNP Brambleclaw is possible, but it just was not at all executed well by the writing team, which is why the shift in the books seems so jarring.
Ever since I begun my TNP rewrite Shaken Roots, I have been looking for ways for this character arc to make more sense. And, I think I can see how the serious, quiet Bramblepaw who is 100% determined to prove himself to ThunderClan by putting his head down and working hard, no matter what, could become the very burnt out Brambleclaw, who is worn down by time as the moons pass and some of his clan-mates continue to look disfavorably on his connection to Tigerstar. This eventually even leads him to do the thing he swore never to do (“joining” Tigerstar) because he’s so desperate for connections.
There are a few things in TNP that Brambleclaw does/thinks which are still probably unrealistic or too extreme, (like having a moment of seriously considering killing Firestar.) But, overall I feel like this could be a way to smooth the transition of Bramblepaw to Brambleclaw, and this is how I’d do it:
Very few cats seem to care at all that Brambleclaw is Tigerstar’s son by canon TNP, but since Brambleclaw feeling emotional burn out by their judgement is what I’m using as the jumping-off point for him falling under Hawkfrost and Tigerstar’s influence, I plan on making some changes there. However, canon does give us some little things which I can expand on in my rewrite: First there is Firestar going out of his way to name Brambleclaw after Tigerclaw. Maybe Firestar was genuinely well-meaning there, but Brambleclaw could have some major insecurity around that since Firestar permanently branded him with his father’s name when Firestar knows so well that Brambleclaw struggles so much to escape Tigerstar’s shadow. Also, maybe Brambleclaw has little, innocuous mannerisms like the way he flicks his tail when he’s annoyed that makes him look just like Tigerstar. Maybe his clan-mates don’t comment on it, but Brambleclaw notices the way the older warriors will pause and become unsettled by him, which makes him feel self-conscious and paranoid of seeming too much like Tigerstar, totally on accident or unconsciously. Maybe also while on the journey to the sundown-place, Feathertail or Stormfur has a strong negative reaction to Brambleclaw when he accidentally triggers their trauma from TigerClan because of something innocent he does.
Mixing this all together for moons, I could see Brambleclaw reaching an absolute low of emotional exhaustion and being just tired of trying so hard all the time and feeling like he’s going nowhere. Especially after the journey to the sundrown-place and bringing the Clans to the Lake. Brambleclaw could feel like he is literally ThunderClan’s savior, but some of his clan-mates are still treating him like a snake in the grass, as if they are never sure if he’s going to strike or not. (Although some of this could just be in Brambleclaw's head from his negative/pessimistic perception.)
As the Clans settle into the lake and the close friend group Brambleclaw had made with the other journeying cats starts to drift apart, in steps Hawkfrost who can emphasize with Brambleclaw’s poor treatment (or at least, he acts like he can.) Hawkfrost and Brambleclaw become friends, but Hawkfrost also manipulates Brambleclaw, feeding into his feelings of isolation from his clan-mates so that Brambleclaw is more dependent on Hawkfrost for all his emotional needs. (Hawkfrost is doing this mainly because he has abandonment issues, due to various reasons including Tadpole, Sasha and Feathertail, and wants Brambleclaw to be entirely dependent on him so he never leaves him. But, I’ll leave that there because my thoughts on Hawkfrost’s psyche is an entirely separate essay lol.) Hawkfrost will essentially come to play the role of the devil on Brambleclaw’s shoulder, but Brambleclaw cannot see it because he’s just so grateful to have someone who “understands” him.
Brambleclaw also has some feelings about self-loathing about his seemingly inescapable tether to Tigerstar, and this in combo with Hawkfrost’s manipulations encourages Brambleclaw down a self-destructive path which even leads him back to Tigerstar when he appears in his dream. Brambleclaw of course knows that Tigerstar is the source of all his problems, but I would have him stay to train with Tigerstar anyway because (in order of importance)
1) Hawkfrost is there, and he wants to make sure he’s okay and not left alone with their father.
2) Hawkfrost tries to convince him that before Tigerstar was a monster, he was a great warrior and they should be able to learn from his good parts without following in the paw-steps of his bad parts. And Brambleclaw thinks he will be able to resist any manipulation tactics Tigerstar tries against him. (Tigerstar is also on his best behavior in the dreams, adding to this illusion.)
3) Brambleclaw feels isolated enough that he stays just to be around Hawkfrost and Tigerstar, two cats who give him positive attention.
4) There is a part of Brambleclaw that is very ambitious and enjoys feeling powerful, which training with Tigerstar gives him despite that it also makes his feelings of self-loathing worse.
Of course, Brambleclaw cannot resist Tigerstar as much as he thinks he can, so together Tigerstar and Hawkfrost feed into his darker impulses. When Tawnypelt gets her Tigerstar dream and sees Brambleclaw there, she tries to smack some sense into him by explaining that Brambleclaw doesn’t know what Tigerstar is capable of, but she does, since she had once similarly fallen under his spell to join him in ShadowClan, and that Brambleclaw is a fool if he thinks he can grow stronger by drinking from a pool of poisoned water.
The difference between Tawnypelt and Brambleclaw here is that Tawnypelt got more first-hand exposure to Tigerstar, so she has more nuanced take on Tigerstar. She understands better who their father really is (both the "good" and the terrible parts.) But, Brambleclaw has only heard horror stories about Tigerstar from his clan-mates. Tigerstar is basically a story-book villain to him. He clearly believes the horrible things his clan-mates say about him to some degree, but maybe he also thinks they are a bit exaggerated. Overall though, Brambleclaw just does not truly understand Tigerstar’s personality or abilities. Also, although Tawnypelt is the one who switched Clans, she is ironically in a more supportive environment in ShadowClan, since no one there cares about her relationship to Tigerstar. This lets her be more confident in herself in general, so Tigerstar and Hawkfrost cannot exploit her insecurities in that way as they can Brambleclaw's.
The conclusion of Brambleclaw's arc would be basically catching up to his sister by accepting these parts of himself he can’t change, like his appearance, his name, his blood connection to Tigerstar, and his ambitious personalty, and either being able to see the good parts of them, or if he can’t see the good, then at least acknowledging that they don’t automatically make him a bad person. He is able to do this thanks to his connection to the supportive friends he made on the journey who care about him because who he is as a person, nothing more or less.
This is in contrast to Hawkfrost, who acts as both a parallel and foil to Brambleclaw. He is also desperate for approval, but he is too afraid of getting hurt or being abandoned to form genuine friendship and so is totally isolated. He cannot escape his self destruction, and it ultimately results in his death. This also ties into the overall theme of the arc about bonds/connections— Of course what starts everything is the prophecy cats having to go on this journey to form a deep bond. Then there are the Clans having to come together to survive the forest destruction and sucessfully travel to the lake. And, the connections formed by the forbidden romances, and the ties between Tigerstar and his kids, and so on.
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kithj · 4 months
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my 2023 year in review:
published the most recent update for tnp in january
started work on hh originally in twine back in march
wrote and published one day hike in april
wrote and published faith in june for neo-twiny jam
refined hh as a novel instead and wrote the first draft between may-august
wrote and published siren's call in september
also started working on blood choke in may and published the prologue & ch1-2 in july, then ch3 in november
i started a few things that i haven't finished but will hopefully finish this year... bleeding heart will definitely be published within the next month for vampjamp.
i guess my hopes for this year will be:
finish bleeding heart in time for vampjamp (this will definitely happen)
finish the blackwater route for tnp and finally move on to ch3
ch4 of blood choke
workshop hell or highwater & decide what direction i want to take it in
start second draft of hh
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museaway · 10 months
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Happy 10th anniversary to my beloved Free! fandom. When I was struck down by a fever in late 2017 and decided to watch the anime, I had no idea the ways the fandom would influence me. So since @rinharumemories is a memory event, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to finally write a love letter to the fandom! 💙❤️ 
(Adapted from this twitter thread!)
After my fever-inspired crash-course, Free! fell out of my head for a while, but Rin never did. The following year, I watched a cosplay tutorial for him on YouTube and decided to watch Take Your Marks. I saw The Bench Scene. Suddenly I had an OTP!
My first-ever rinharu friend, Rubi, encouraged me to write fic and kindly beta read for me! I was neck-deep in anxiety at the time because of another fandom and Free! was refreshing. My anxiety was so bad that she actually screened the comments on that first fic to make sure I could read them without spiraling.
I found more shippers & joined the Sakura Pool discord, where I would meet my dear SweetHeaven! Su & the other friends I made there helped shape @ficwip's early days as a hashtag game, and (along w/friends from SPN & VLD) were some of our discord's initial members.
When I was designing the ficwip discord, Aenya was kind enough to share tips for role-based channel permissions & let me pick her brain about modding a year-round space! Her advice was invaluable, an absolute lifesaver. 🙏🙏🙏 
Around this time, through the original #ficwip game on Twitter, I met fellow writer @matsuoka-lin and we got to be friends. (During the pandemic, Lin would join the ficwip server and we would recognize our Aquarius bond ♒)
Late into 2018, I was still writing rinharu fic, and I also participated in Inktober, with a good number of the images being rinharu themed. It had been years since I’d drawn, but those two brought it out of me. Sadly, that December, the VLD finale hit during my very first @rinharuweek and launched me back into the VLD fandom for a couple of years. I never finished my RHW '18 entry. But I never forgot Free! or rinharu, and definitely not Rin, who was my profile pic more often than not. 
Flash forward to 2021. Su won a fic giveaway & prompted me to write a rinharu amnesia fic. I worked on it across 11 months. That awoke my muses, and I ended up writing rinharu hanahaki for @ficwip's 5k!
Last August, I was days away from announcing a fandom-wide SPN event when I recalled my dream of a rinharu bang and mentioned it in passing to Lin. We talked for eight hours straight. By the end of the conversation, @thenightpool had been born. 
We started TNP with the humble goal of five participants in our first event, a mermaid-themed fic & art fest. We had months to prepare! Then something happened with FS2 and we scrambled to launch a Halloween fest that we pulled off thanks to incredible contributors. They formed the foundation of the TNP discord, which is set up a lot like ficwip’s to be a year-round little creative community. We’ll actually be launching our own version of fw’s writing retreat weekends later this month! 
The merfest, which got renamed Unleashed Blue, blew past our expectations — as did Sakurathon, a dormant event that we revived for a weekend in April. UB ended up with 52 entries; we’d hoped for maybe 15. Sakurathon was such a success that we rescheduled it immediately. Right now, we have a prompt meme running, and have events scheduled through 2024! 😅 
In addition to @thenightpool, we’ve formed @iwatobievents to promote events across the Free! fandom. And we’re running events there too, for Nagisa and Soumako. Because what is sleep!! 
So the TL;DR is that the rinharu fandom helped give @ficwip life, has inspired me as a writer and artist, led me to my best and dearest friends, and will make a big dream come true later this year: I’ll finally be running a rinharu bang! 💙❤️
And I still have a Rin Matsuoka icon.
(eta: I did, up until the day I posted this. It may temporarily be changed to another favorite character!)
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blood-choke · 6 months
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yeahhhhh i haven’t been seeing those indicators for anyone since the beginning LOL 😭😭😭 i have been romancing everyone so idk if that factors into it. maybe it’s just me and my iphone? regardless, i’m able to get on the individual routes and due to the choices i’m taking i can tell they have romantic intent cause of the passages that show up??? i guess im playing blind but you have a back button so 😭😭😭 at least i have that
oh nooooo 😭😭😭 i'm sorry anon! i'm glad it still seems to be obvious enough for you. and like you said there's always the back button! maybe i'll try and figure out a different heart to use that shows up across all devices. no one has ever reported that about the black hearts i use for tnp so maybe i'll switch to those for this one, too.
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bonefall · 3 months
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if youre still doing this when they stop making new warriors books do you think you'll write an extra bonefall original arc about. well. bonefall? lol
LMAOO can you imagine? Warriors blinks out and I still remain, as if I'm cursed with immortality and watching the heat death of the universe
I'm old compared to the average age of this fandom, but I grew up with WC. I was there with Aslan when the deep magic was being written, and the sales are still decent. I can't imagine outlasting this series.
I don't think there will ever be a "last arc." There's a portion of the fandom that's been cawing "ohhh last arc" since forever and it never happens. It never even happened after they announced TNP (the last arc) or OotS (definitely for real the last arc). They'll keep it going just to make bank off adaptations and spin-off stuff like the Roblox game. It's not happening unless the IP owner goes belly-up, and even then, WC is a cash cow that would get sold off in some inevitable debt settlement.
There's another like, 40 years in this IP. But sure, if I manage to outlast it and I'm still active in this fandom I'll do a victory lap lmao
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